Young Minority Scholars Program 

The purpose of the Luxmanor Young Minority Scholars Program is:

• Enrich the educational experience and cultural awareness of minority students
• Build student to student relationships
• Nurture self-esteem and confidence in minority students as they prepare to enter middle school

Program Coordinators for 2007-2008 were:
Janet Higgins & Kim Kirk

Check out the Walter Johnson HS Minority Scholars Program webpage.

2007-2008 Meetings and Guest Speakers

What Our Guest Speakers Had To Say

March 18, 2008

Mr. Lee Ivory joined the Luxmanor Young Minority Scholars for lunch on Tuesday, March 18th and spoke to students about his career in journalism.  He began his career as a reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana, and recently he has been with USA Today editing the Sports Weekly.   Mr. Ivory is President of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.  

Mr. Ivory had an important message for students:  Read, Read, Read!  He encouraged students to read every day and to pay attention to words, how they connect to make sentences, and how sentences are structured to make paragraphs.  If a student really liked a particular book or series of books, Mr. Ivory suggested that they try to figure out why they liked the book a lot and how it was written to learn about the craft of writing.  If they liked to learn, be a little nosy, and tell stories, Mr. Ivory suggested that they might be interested in being a reporter.  One last tip Mr. Ivory gave to students was to keep a personal journal and write about what happened each day.   

January 29, 2008

Dr. Cherie Butts was the guest speaker for the Luxmanor Young Minority Scholars meeting on January 29, 2008.  Dr. Butts told students about her path to become a research scientist.  She advised students to make a Do/Don’t List of things they really like to do, things they are really good at, and things they don’t like to do.  This list can help students make decisions about what they might like to do when they grow up and set goals to accomplish their dreams.  Dr. Butts told students to work hard to reach their goals, believe in themselves, and don’t let other people dictate what you can or cannot do.  

Dr. Butts is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Section of Neuro-endocrine Immunology and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.  Dr. Butts is doing important research on how hormones affect women’s immune systems.

November 13, 2007

Student members of the Walter Johnson High School Minority Scholars Program visited Luxmanor Elementary School on November 13, 2007 to attend the Kick –Off luncheon of the Luxmanor Young Minority Scholars.  All students enjoyed a pizza lunch followed by a brief presentation by the high school students.  The WJ Minority Scholars offered some advice to the Luxmanor students:

• believe in yourself
• ask questions
• stay organized
• build your character
• participate in activities and sports
• never let anyone stop you from pursuing your goals